For Immediate Release                                                             

December 3, 2009

Contact: 

Ashley Davis

1-800-200-2672

adavis@carolinadonorservices.org

Donor Family and Organ Recipient Come Together to Decorate a Floral Portrait for the 2010 Donate Life Rose Parade Float

North Carolina Donor Families and Transplant Recipients Show ‘How New Life Rises’ with Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation

DURHAM—December 3, 2009—For more than 120 years, the Tournament of Roses Parade has been an American tradition. This year, North Carolina’s organ and tissue donation community will come together to join a national campaign to celebrate and honor the lifesaving gifts of organ and tissue donation as part of Donate Life’s 2010 Donate Life’s Rose Parade Float, New Life Rises. The float will be featured in the 121st annual Tournament of Roses Parade on Friday, January 1, 2010 at 10 a.m. MST in Pasadena, CA.

New Life Rises will feature a phoenix–the mythical symbol of life coming out of death–rising into the sky representing those who give life in their death and the people whose lives are renewed by their gifts. The bird will soar high above 24 riders who are comprised of living donors and donor family members from across the U.S. Adorning the bird’s tail feathers are 76 floragraphs–portraits created with floral material–of deceased donors who gave life to those in need. In addition, donors from across the country are memorialized in a garden of dedicated roses, with each rose vial carrying a personal message of love, hope and remembrance.

Represented among the float’s stories is the story of a local Durham woman and her son. Delores Benton Evans of Durham, N.C., received son Ryan's left kidney the day after he died. "It is amazing that in life, he could not donate a kidney to me, but after his death it was possible," she said. Delores kept a personal promise by becoming an avid volunteer to increase organ, tissue and bone donations and advocate for kidney patients on dialysis. Delores now shares her story with the hopes of helping donor families heal and helping others understand the importance of transplantation.

Carolina Donor Services, the organ procurement organization serving 79 counties in North Carolina and Danville, Virginia will host an event Saturday, December 12, 2009 from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Union Baptist Church in Durham, NC to decorate the floral portrait of organ donor, Ryan Benton Evans. Ryan’s mother and kidney recipient Delores Benton Evans and the recipient of Ryan’s lungs Fred Krenrich will gather, supported by friends and family, at the event to put the final touches on the floragraph. Ryan’s floragraph is one of only 76 floral portraits - and one of two from North Carolina - that will appear on the Donate Life float to honor the lives of organ and tissue donors and the decision they made to give the gift of life by donating their organs.

The Donate Life float’s riders and floragraph honorees represent millions of people touched by organ and tissue donation, including donor families, their deceased loved ones, living donors, transplant recipients and transplant candidates. Riders and floragraph honorees are individually sponsored by official partners who support the Donate Life Rose Parade financially.

About Carolina Donor Services

Carolina Donor Services is the federally-designated, non-profit organ and tissue donation organization serving 6.1 million people in 78 counties of North Carolina and Danville, Virginia.  Carolina Donor Services maximizes the passing of the heroic gift of life from one human being to another through organ and tissue donation.  In North Carolina, over 3,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and nationally, over 105,000 people are on the organ waiting list.  For more information, visit www.carolinadonorservices.org; call 1-800-200-2672 or write 3621 Lyckan Parkway, Durham, NC 27707.

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